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Astroscope + eyepiece + compact camera - Setup (1 Viewer)

cruedag

Active member
Hello, I miss a thread where we could upload pictures of our digiscoping equipment using astroscopes and compact cameras.

I think that the inherent simplicity of the astroscope layout gives also a photographic quality improvement over conventional spotting scopes if you use eyepiece and a compact camera.

In my case I bought a used Televue 76, a real gem for digiscoping, connecting a DSLR at primary focus or connecting a compact camera through an eyepice.

My configuration for using a compact camera:

- Televue 76 scope. 480mm focal length, 76 mm of lens.
- Several 2'' extender tubes, total lenght of about 12 cms. for 3.5 meters of close focus.
- 2'' to 1.25'' adapter.
- Televue Radian 14mm eyepiece for 35x of magnification.
- Televue digital camera adapter ring. It is attached directly on the eyepiece and gives you a 37mm standard thread for connecting a filter adapter.
- Standard cheap filter adapter bought in ebay for the Sony DSC-W5, W7 cameras.
- Sony DSC-W5 and W7 cameras. When the W5 was broken I bought an used W7 in ebay.
- Manfrotto 701 RC2 head.
- Manfrotto 190 MF tripod.

The whole thing is able to focusing as close as 3.5 meters, and is almost free of vignetting from the 38mm to the 114mm focal range of the camera.

This setup provides a total focal length range from 1300mm to 3900mm with great image quality.

Downside: straight connection yields inverted images in your camera... is it possible to get comfortable with it? I really find it very easy.
 

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Hi,
This is interesting, a complement to prime focusing, thanks for sharing this information.

Do you have any samples of photos taken in the field?
/Tord
 
Great pictures, I must say the image quality is high. Keep them coming!

Out of curiosity - how long time does it take you to mount/unmount the camera? (Thinking about alternating between observation and photography). Lastly, around what price point is your scope + eyepiece + bits and pieces?

/Tord

PS There is a limitation on how large files you can attach to posts on this forum. For JPEG files it is 493 kb, 1600 x 1200 pixels max.
 
This one is from last weekend, using a hide nearby a fountain. I change from DSLR (800mm focal equivalent length) to compact camera, so when this jay arrived I had the compact camera and couldn't frame the whole body (minimun focal length was 1300mm) so I putted some zoom to make a portrait.

I was at around 12-14 meters of the jay, zoom at 1.5x, equivalent focal length of 2050mm. ISO100, 1/250s, f7.1 with a Sony DSC-W7. Uncropped.
 

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It takes 5-7 seconds to unscrew the camera's tube adapter from the thread of the eyepiece.

I share some extension tubes for directly coupling the DSLR and the compact camera. When I want to change from one system to another I only have to loose the extension tube when the eyepiece is coupled, and to put the extension tube with the T ring where the DSLR is coupled.

I bought the Televue 76 used, 800€. New, in OTA format (without mirror nor eyepiece) you can buy it for 1600 €. It has the perfect size for birding, but it's heavy (it seems to be made for the army):

http://www.teleskop-express.de/shop/product_info.php/info/p1724_TeleVue-APO-76-480mm---OTA---travel-bag.html

You also need some extension tubes, I use 3 of them of 4-5 cms. length. One of them comes from a GSO 2'' 2x barlow. With them I can arrange the two systems and close focus up to 3.5 meters.

Each extension tube costs about 15-20€, and the barlow costs 55€ more or less.

I bought the Televue Radian 14mm eyepiece new, with an offer, for 180€. It has 60º of AFOV, 20mm of eye relief and gives very good sights and pictures. With the 38mm initial zoom of my compact camera it vignettes almost nothing. You can buy it new for 220 € or so on.

Then you have the ring that can be attached to the eyepiece, giving you a 28, 37 or 43mm standard thread. I use the 37mm one. More or less, it costs 30 €.

Tube adapter for your camera. Mine cost about 6 €.

And finally the compact camera; when I was looking for a new one (my DSC-W5 have a lot of dust inside the lenses) I was looking for a used Canon S95 but I finally decided to buy a used DSC-W7, the same one as the W5 but with 7 mpx. instead of 5 mpx. I bought it for 40 €.

The whole set is very easy to use, and the ability to frame from 1300mm to 3900mm is fantastic. Maybe It could be better using a 18mm Radian, giving a range from 1000mm to 3000mm with this scope.

If you don't want to see things inverted, you have to use a diagonal mirror instead of the extension tubes.
 
Another sample from the las session

Another sample with the compact camera, this one shooted with no zoom at 1300mm of equivalent focal length.

Here you can see some vignetting because of the 60º AFOV of the Radian, just at the limit for 38mm of focal length in the compact camera.

Mistle Thrush (I think that it is a juvenile). Sony DSC-W7, ISO100, 1/320s, f5.6, -2/3ev. I always shoot this camera in macro mode autofocus. I focus the scope, press half shutter to lock camera's focus in the desired area, rearrange the composition and at last fully press full shutter to take the picture.
 

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Some old pictures

Thanks Dan, well I've no recent pictures with this setup, so I am going to upload some old photos. I've lost the original pictures of many of them, but they looked pretty good at high resolution.

Here you have a flamingo just after intercourse, from about 70 meters.

Televue 76, Radian 14mm, Sony DSC-W5. ISO 100, 1/1250s, F/7.1, zoom at1.7x, 2300mm focal length. Processed for web, 800px format.
 

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First pictures with that setup

At first I used a PVC pipes hand made adapter for straight connecting the eyepiece to the scope, and to hold the camera. It was not tight enough to absolutely control tilting, but results where not bad.

Actually with the 2'' extension tubes and the threaded ring tilt doesn't exist and collimation is almost perfect.

I remember that this one was the first photo taken with that setup. Slightly cropped to avoid small vignetting, 1300mm focal length, from inside the car.

ISO100, F2.8, 1/250s.
 

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Same day, from the car, I saw this Streaked Fantail Warbler, and it was so small that I had to use full zoom, 3900mm of total focal length plus cropping.

ISO100, F5.2, 1/160s. With practice I learnt that 1/160s is not enough speed to shot from inside the car with 3900mm of focal length, and also that when I use 3x in the camera zoom i have to move backwards the camera from the eyepiece because the entrance pupil moves towards a lot with 3x. I didn't know it at the time, so IQ suffers.
 

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Yes Cruedag, I like your style. No floppy F.P. shutter to go off and jar every thing. I use an Orion 80ED, some times the 14mm Radian, but mostly my 17mm Hyperion with the 43mm threads on top. I love my 120 gram FH-1 (FS-10) Lumix. Easy to epoxy threads on to the body for mounting.

Nice shots with the Sony. Yes, I use the diagonal, mostly to shorten up the mounting, but it is nice to look down on the camera and to keep the pod low. Gene
 
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Just out of interest is any one using the Sony NEX-7 attached to the skywatcher 80ED

Thinking it may be a good combo from what i have read about the camera :t:
 
Impressive images at that range. Even a 300 - 400 camera lens much closer would be pressed to get that feather detail.

Thanks for sharing your setup.
 
Very Nice! I've been trying close to the same concept with a different scope with no where near the results your getting. Great pictures!
 
Very Nice! I've been trying close to the same concept with a different scope with no where near the results your getting. Great pictures!

Generally on an astro scope a dslr body with teleconverters will give the best overall image quality. Some of the mirrorless bodies are worth a look too.

Paul.
 
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